Shareholders of Nissan voted to remove Carlos Ghosn from its board after his fourth arrest last week, formally ousting the man who rescued and led the Japanese carmaker for the past two decades.

Monday’s extraordinary meeting of shareholders set the stage for Nissan to revamp its board with stronger governance safeguards to address a crisis that has shaved 7 per cent off its share price, eroded its brand and crippled its ties with its French partner Renault since the former chairman’s November arrest.

Jean-Dominique Senard also won shareholder approval to join the Japanese group’s board as Renault’s new chairman seeks to restore trust within the three-way alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors.

During the three-hour meeting, shareholders vented their anger against Hiroto Saikawa, Nissan’s chief executive, and other executives for overlooking Mr Ghosn’s misconduct for nearly a decade, with one male investor calling for the company’s entire board to step down.

“We are not saying that we have no responsibility. We take the issue very seriously,” Mr Saikawa said as he offered his apology. But he reiterated that he plans to focus on stabilising relations with Renault and rebuild the company’s governance structure. (more…)

While recent economic data has brought a ray of hope into the otherwise gloomy Chinese economy, one closely followed indicator is tempering expectations of a vigorous rebound in the world’s second-largest economy.

China’s manufacturing sector unexpectedly rebounded in March, according to the government’s purchasing managers index (PMI), but copper prices, often viewed as an early indicator of China’s economic health, are struggling to perk up.

Since copper is used in a wide range of industries, the commodity is called Dr. Copper for being a reliable prognosticator of where the world economy is heading. Many market players closely watch copper prices as a good gauge of the economic outlook in China. The country accounted for about half the 23.46 million tons of copper consumed worldwide in 2017, up from just 25% a decade earlier.

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The European Union, like the US, wants China to further open its markets to investment.

• EU would not use punitive tariffs to try to force China to the negotiating table
• Europe shared US concerns over China’s “massively” subsidised state-owned enterprises
• 5 year long effort to negotiate an EU-China investment treaty … “It’s been going for a long time now and we’d hoped that China would be a little more open to do this. We have exchanged offers, that is a step forward, but they are very modest.”
• EU is wary of Washington’s attempts to introduce “managed trade” policies that violate the spirit of the WTO system

Larry Kudlow on US TV over the weekend with remarks on the state of negotiations on trade talks with China

• US and China are “closer and closer” to a trade deal
• “guarded optimism, maybe more than guarded optimism”
• “We’ve made great progress on the IP theft. We’ve made good progress on the forced transfer of technology”